by The Mapparium is a stained-glass globe that is viewed from a 30-foot-long bridge through its center. It’s three stories tall, and is located at the Christian Science Publishing Society (CSPS) in Boston, Massachusetts. Among other things, the CSPS publishes the Christian Science Monitor, which is an international weekly newspaper that has won several Pulitzer Prices. Though the paper is secular, it does include one religious article in each issue.
The globe was built in 1935, and it was based upon the Rand McNally political maps published the previous year. The original intent had been to update it as borders changed in the world, but it was determined to be too costly, and at some point it converted to a historical artifact just fine the way it was. Therefore, today it contains countries that no longer exist and labels that are no longer in use.
The idea behind the globe was that it would represent The Christian Science Monitor‘s global awareness and global reach. The architect was Chester Lindsay Churchill, who was inspired by the famous spinning globe in the lobby of the New York Daily News Building.
The globe is comprised of 608 panels in vivid colors. You can see it on a short tour that includes a light-and-sound show. According to Wikipedia, “This is the only configuration that places the eye at the same distance from every point on the globe.”
It was an interesting experience to stand inside and feel how large the world is by thinking of places we’d been and seeing how far they were from each other, and how much we haven’t seen.
